Illinois Expects Peach Bowl Bid

Illinois, with a 6-4-1 record but without embarrassment, will accept a bid to play in the Peach Bowl if they beat Northwestern Saturday.

``I don`t want you to think I`m talking about us being a Top 10 team,``

coach Mike White said, ``but I think that we`re one of the better teams available for that extra game.``

Apparently, Peach Bowl officials agree, although official bids don`t go out until Saturday.

``If we finish the season out in good style, we fully expect to receive an invitation,`` athletic director Neale Stoner said. ``We`re in a strong position for the Peach Bowl and that`s our No. 1 choice.``

Army (8-2) is Illinois` probable opponent.

-- The wild ending of Saturday`s game between Clemson and Maryland may be just the beginning of Clemson coach Danny Ford`s problems. The Atlantic Coast Conference, acting on its own initiative, will review Ford`s conduct and that of his team. Clemson lost the game in the closing minutes 34-31. Ford claimed the 25-second play clock had expired on Maryland`s touchdown that tied the game 31-31. His protest in the middle of the field included profanity picked up by CBS-TV microphones. On the last play of the game, Maryland`s Lewis Askew rode Terrance Roulhac out of bounds in front of the Clemson bench. Several Clemson players pushed, shoved and pummeled Askew as he was pinned on the sideline. A videotape replay showed he was hit nine times, but two Clemson players and a graduate assistant coach tried to protect Askew. ``It was a regrettable incident,`` said ACC commissioner Bob James.

-- Holy Cross running back Gill Fenerty, who left Saturday`s football game against Boston University with a headache and vomiting, has a cerebral contusion. Fenerty, a 22-year-old senior, was in fair condition Monday at a Worcester, Mass., hospital.

-- Was Washington the victim of covert operations? Coach Don James thinks so. He claimed two high school coaches spied on the Huskies last week and supplied information to Southern California. Washington needed to rally with a 98-yard touchdown drive to beat the Trojans. ``We had the feeling that they`d seen our offense,`` James said. ``They had a game plan for it.`` James said he didn`t think USC coach Ted Tollner put the gridiron 007s up to their dirty work. ``Ted`s got enough problems right now,`` James said.

-- Former Vanderbilt strength coach E.J. ``Doc`` Kreis pleaded guilty in district court at Nashville to one count of distributing steroids to players. He could be sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in jail for the misdemeanor. Kreis was indicted on seven counts of drug possession and distribution and one count of conspiracy. The other charges were dismissed.

-- Please have a pencil ready and take down those numbers: On Saturday, Nov. 30, ABC-TV will give viewers a chance to vote for one of five Heisman Trophy candidates during the network`s weekly football telecast. Each of the players will be assigned a 900 number with votes electronically tabulated. The results will be announced after of the game.

Giant steps lead nowhere

Prospects for keeping the Giants in San Francisco took a turn for the worse when owner Bob Lurie said a plan to build a privately funded downtown stadium had been abandoned.

Lurie said he and developer Peter Stocker have ``regretfully concluded that we are unable to structure a financing method for the construction of a downtown baseball stadium that works for both the developer and the ballclub.``

Lurie has pledged that his team will not return to blustery Candlestick Park. He has blamed the Giants` poor performance--100 losses last season--and a dwindling gate on weather conditions at the stadium.

San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein could hardly contain her anger over the latest development. She met with Lurie Friday and nothing was said of the plan`s troubles.

``I was totally blindsided by this,`` she said. ``But I have no intention of giving up. I`ll do everything I have to, even go to court, to keep Bob Lurie and the Giants here.``

-- The condition of former major-league pitcher Clay Carroll was upgraded to stable Monday. He was shot during a violent family argument that left his wife dead and son critically injured. Carroll was removed from the intensive care unit of a Bradenton, Fla., hospital, where he has been since Saturday night. Carroll`s 11-year-old son Brett remained in critical condition with at least one gunshot wound to the head. Carroll`s stepson, Frederick Nowitzke, has been arrested and charged.

-- Rico Petrocelli, a veteran of 13 years with the Boston Red Sox, was named minor-league instructor for the White Sox. Petrocelli was hired by Sox front-office boss Ken Harrelson, a teammate of Petrocelli`s in Boston. . . . Yogi Berra has joined the Houston Astros as a coach, completing new manager Hal Lanier`s staff.